Adolescent Scoliosis-Wrong posture is a red light for spine health

During my years of observing adolescent patients that visited my office for back pain, most have stretched skin in the back. Although people claim this to be the result of an adolescents’ rapid growth, this is the result of poor posture applying constant stress on the skin. There are even cases in which the spine protrudes and callouses form on said protrusions. Habitual bad posture while using hand held devices or reading are the causes for a bent back.

Contrary to the degenerative conditions common in adults, young children or adolescents are under the suspicion of congenital discrepancies, tumors, spondylolysis, scoliosis, and other different conditions. Historically, adolescent disk hernia was uncommon, mostly originating from extensive exercise, accidents, or injuries. However, according to a recent study conducted by a university hospital, adolescent disk hernia has increased 2.2 times over the span of 9 years(1995-2009). Additionally, in accordance to a 2012 study, the possibility for disk hernia in adolescents have increased 1.5 time over the past 5 years, 5 times in the last 10 years.